The top green stories of 2008

In a sense, there was only one story in 2008, and what a story it was: extraordinary promise, shattered illusions, and ultimately triumph. We’re talking, of course, about Britney’s recovery.

And then there was that election. What a ride, eh? Packed with more drama than a telenovela, chock-full of rhetoric on energy and the environment, and long enough for all of us to lose our minds a little. Remember the gas-tax-holiday fight? Drill, baby, drill? Or when McCain scoffed over concerns that nuclear power should be “safe or disposable or something like that”? Remember Sarah Palin?

The Bush administration’s recent midnight-regulation bonanza seems the preposterously perfect way to cap eight years of doom and gloom with a sense of … gloom. If it hadn’t been for Stephen Johnson (the headlines! my God the headlines) we might not have made it.

But as we look back at the year’s top stories, and ahead to next year, we get a weird little tickle in our guts. People tell us it’s called “hope.” Is that contagious? Maybe we should get it looked at.

9. Who you calling chicken?

Californians vote for more-humane farming After both sides spent big bucks egging voters on, California made history by passing Prop. 2 and thereby giving farm animals the right to … turn around and lie down in their cages. What’s next, hippies hand-feeding them arugula? The new guidelines, which apply to “egg-laying hens, calves raised for veal, and pregnant pigs,” inspired pre-election support from the likes of Oprah, The New York Times, and others who hoped a win might provide a national model for more-humane farming. The landslide victory, on the other hand, inspired squawky protests from Big Ag. The rules take effect in 2015.

6. Is nothing seacred?

Offshore drilling ban lifted In a move that one environmental consultant called “the biggest reversal of conservation and protection in the history of this country,” Congress allowed a 27-year-old ban on offshore drilling to expire in October. The action — or inaction, to be more accurate — opened more than 600 million acres of coastal waters to leasing and could allow drilling as close as three miles to shore. In order to fully untake uneffect, the unban had to be accompanied by the repeal of an executive ban first signed by George H. W. Bush, a step George W. Bush was only too happy to take. In the face of high gas prices, intense oil-industry lobbying, and public pressure from John McCain and Newt Gingrich, the traditionally bipartisan ban stood little chance of surviving. However, fans of slick-free seas take some small hope that the ban might be re-un-lifted; President-elect Barack Obama recently said he was “not thrilled with it simply lapsing without … thought to what we need to do to achieve energy independence.”

4. Transit highs and lows

Gas prices seesaw and Americans drive less The rise and fall of gas prices was more than a news story this year, it was a national rollercoaster ride. Thanks to record-high prices — at one point, oil hit $147 a barrel and prices at the pump topped $4 a gallon — Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles between November 2007 and October 2008, compared to the previous year. Traffic deaths were down 10 percent. Public transit ridership hit record highs. SUV sales plummeted, and automakers sped toward smaller cars — while their execs sped to Congress to beg for a bailout. Dramatically lower gas prices in the fourth quarter weren’t even enough to get American drivers on the road again. But hey, give ’em time.

Nancy Pelosi stands by Henry Waxman, at podium.

3. Did we mention that Nancy Pelosi will cut you?

With Waxman as wingman, House Speaker Pelosi takes climate from John Dingell As the 110th Congress was getting started, John Dingell (D-Auto) — then chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — sounded tepid about pursuing climate-change legislation. The new speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), noticed. First she created the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, with Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at the helm. Dingell scoffed that without subpoena power or legislative jurisdiction, the committee was as useful as “feathers on a fish.” Mm hmm. Said committee spent the next two years putting the nation’s experts on record, publicizing climate change impacts and solutions, and building consensus for serious action in the House. That consensus propelled climate champion and Pelosi ally Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to victory in his November coup to replace Dingell as chair. Final score: Pelosi, two committees; Dingell, zero. (Coda: As a grace note, Waxman subsequently offered Dingell leadership on all health-care initiatives before the committee.)

2. When the clock strikes 12, they turn into … even bigger dicks

Bush administration pushes through last-minute anti-enviro measures Apparently eight years of kicking the planet in the tender bits wasn’t enough for the Bush administration, so they’re using their last month in office to punch it in the face. How? Regulations in the dead of night! [Evil Cheney cackle.] Fun stuff like removing independent scientific reviews from the Endangered Species Act, easing restrictions on mountaintop-removal mining, pushing to weaken clean-air rules near national parks (though they gave up on that one), opening public lands in Utah to drilling, allowing guns in national parks, exempting factory farms from air-pollution rules, recommending an expansion of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, and pardoning a guy who killed three bald eagles (hey, what the hell) — and that’s just the stuff we know about. In his capacity as head of the Parody Defense Department Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen Johnson recently issued a press release hailing the outgoing chief’s “constructive steps” on energy and climate.

1. Obamania

Obama talks green and takes over Did Obama mean all that pretty stuff he said about clean energy and climate change in the campaign — and reiterated since winning the election? The year to come will tell the tale. He has already assembled a seasoned green team, with Clinton EPA administrator Carol Browner in a new executive office to coordinate energy and climate efforts. Three key positions — energy secretary, White House science adviser, and NOAA administrator — will be occupied by highly regarded professional scientists who have raised alarms about climate change — respectively, Steven Chu, John Holdren, and Jane Lubchenco. There will be a champion of environment justice and green jobs, Rep. Hilda Solis, as labor secretary, and a new White House Office of Urban Policy. Two close allies, Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman, are in key environmental positions in the House of Representatives, and Dems have 58 or 59 seats in the Senate, where most green legislation has gone to die. All is not ponies — Obama’s choices for Agriculture and Transportation are uninspiring at best — but the big pieces are in place. There may be no magic, but there is sure to be plenty of action. And if we fall prey to that tickling sensation, we might even venture some hope for science, common sense, and competence at the helm of a ship that’s been drifting blind for far too long.